cancel culture Archives - The Virginia Star

Trump’s Former Attorney John Eastman in Good Spirits About the Ongoing Lawfare Against Him, Both Prosecution and Disbarment Proceedings

March 6, 2024March 6, 2024 Rachel Alexander

Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar, John Eastman, who is undergoing lawfare as a result of his representation of Trump in the 2020 election challenges, is facing multiple legal proceedings but is in good spirits.

Eastman, widely considered one of the top legal scholars on the right, who founded the Claremont Institute’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, served as dean for Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law, and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, told The Arizona Sun Times during an interview that he remains “cheerful but defiant.”

Commentary: Learning to Speak Fearlessly in the Midst of College Cancel Culture

October 17, 2022October 16, 2022 RealClearWire

Many parents send their college students off for a new academic year with well-intentioned advice. For some, that now includes a cautious directive: maintain a low profile in the classroom on political and religious subjects. Parents have good reason to offer such counsel.

Commentary: ESG Cancel Culture Comes for State Financial Officers

October 11, 2022October 10, 2022 RealClearWire

As the leader of a nonprofit group whose mission is to promote economic freedom, sound public policy, and responsible financial management at the state level, I’m honored to help our nation’s financial officers practice good stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Their work often includes managing pension funds that are vital to millions of Americans’ retirement security. Over the past few years, a growing threat called ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) has been negatively impacting state pension systems, ultimately putting retirees at risk. Sadly, our nation’s state financial officers and the retirees they have a fiduciary responsibility to protect are increasingly under siege by ESG ideologues who are motivated by politics rather than economics.

Campus Speech Police Update: One Professor Investigated for Tweet Reclaims Job as Another Loses His

June 6, 2022June 5, 2022 Admin

After more than four months in limbo, constitutional law professor Ilya Shapiro has been cleared to take the reins of Georgetown Law’s Center for the Constitution.

The university had placed the libertarian legal scholar on paid leave in January for his clumsily worded “lesser black woman” tweet about President Biden’s pledge to consider only black women in his search for a successor to retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

Targeted Staff Cuts, New Corporate Ethos: Netflix Takes a Stand for Creative Independence

May 23, 2022May 22, 2022 Admin

Dave Chappelle’s 2021 Netflix stand-up special “The Closer” sparked protests from the streamer’s own employees over allegedly anti-trans jokes.

Now, the platform is drawing an unmistakable line in the sand, proclaiming a corporate culture that prizes individual creative freedom above the collective ideological discipline enforced by cancel culture.

In Virginia Tech Commencement, Youngkin Highlights Need for Mentors, Moral Compass, and ‘Grace in Public Discourse’

May 14, 2022May 13, 2022 Eric Burk

In a commencement speech at Virginia Tech, Governor Glenn Youngkin spoke about the importance of mentors and a moral compass while criticizing “group-think” in higher education. Youngkin is the ninth consecutive Virginia governor to give the school’s commencement address in the first year of his term, according to a March announcement.

“I firmly believe that each of you has been divinely created for a purpose,” Youngkin said in the Friday speech. “If you unlock the mysteries of your gifts, you will unlock your purpose. In society today, there’s such a great emphasis on achieving happiness. Yale University even pioneered a class on finding happiness. But all the great thinkers that I have read, have said, and actually I’ve learned from my own experiences, that happiness is fleeting. It’s finding purpose that’s truly sustaining.”

In Regent University Commencement, Youngkin Criticizes Higher-Ed Conformity; Earle-Sears Named Alumna of the Year

May 9, 2022May 8, 2022 Eric Burk

In a commencement speech at Regent University, Governor Glenn Youngkin told graduates to follow two guides: mentors and a “compass that points us in the direction of core values that define us.” He told them that they were not called to comfort, and criticized conformity in academia.

“Sometimes we are called to speak up, to say unpopular things, to invite ridicule and scorn. If I could offer one critique of higher education today, and I mean this in the most global sense, it’s that there’s too much group-think, too much conformity to modern doctrine, too much intolerance that rears itself in the form of a canceled culture,” Youngkin said.

Rumble Offers Joe Rogan $100 Million to Use Their Platform Amid Spotify Controversy

February 8, 2022February 7, 2022 Peter D'Abrosca

Amid controversy over podcaster Joe Rogan’s controversial COVID-19 episodes and some past episodes that contained racial slurs, one video streaming platform is lending Rogan their support.

“We stand with you, your guests, and you legion of fans in desire for real conversation,” Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski said in a letter addressed to Rogan. “So we’d like to offer you 100 million reasons to make the world a better place.”

Conservatives, Independent Voices Build Own Platforms to Counter Big Tech Censorship

February 7, 2022February 6, 2022 Virginia Star Staff

Conservatives took critics to heart when they said, “build your own platforms,” in the wake of digital censorship claims.

Twitter competitors like Gab, Parler and now GETTR offer a “safe space” for those frustrated by the former’s inconsistent rules. The video platform Rumble, active since 2013 but experiencing a massive boost over the past year, is a haven for voices like conservative talker Dan Bongino recently silenced by Google-owned YouTube. And GiveSendGo.com lets clients denied access to GoFundMe crowdfund without compromising their values.

Youngkin Picks Conservative Policy Leader Kay Coles James for Secretary of the Commonwealth

January 8, 2022January 7, 2022 Eric Burk

Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin announced that former Heritage Foundation President Kay Coles James is his pick for Secretary of the Commonwealth. James has experience in the administrations of both Bushes as well as Reagan. She also served as Former Governor George Allen’s Secretary of Health.

“Secretary James will be a true asset to the administration. Our shared vision combined with her tremendous experience will pave the way for a new day in Virginia. Kay has an extensive public service background; she has always been a leader and innovator in Virginia government. Kay has worked tirelessly as my transition Co-Chair, advising on personnel, policy, and strategic planning,” Youngkin said in a Friday evening press release.

Social Justice Groups Demand Netflix Pull Down Dave Chappelle Special over ‘Anti-Trans’ Content

October 8, 2021October 7, 2021 Peter D'Abrosca

Social justice groups are up in arms Thursday over what they have labeled “anti-transgender” bigotry from comedian Dave Chappelle, who recently released a new Netflix special called “The Closer.”

In part of his standup routine, he discusses cancel culture, and how author J.K. Rowling was “cancelled” for an essay she wrote defending the idea of biological sex. For that, she was labeled a “Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminist” (TERF).

Commentary: Cancel Culture is Both a Scarlet Letter and a Reign of Terror

September 14, 2021September 13, 2021 RealClearWire

In a recent Atlantic article, Anne Applebaum compares our college campuses to New England Puritanism. She did so by drawing on the storyline of the novel “The Scarlet Letter,” wherein Hester Prynne suffers eternal ignominy for having sex and getting pregnant outside of wedlock. So, too, Applebaum wrote, do many today receive a scarlet “C,” marked for shunning at the behest of a “Cancel Culture.”

While Applebaum’s comparison is helpful, a more fitting reference exists, one both historical and literary. The French Revolution, which began in 1789, provided the backdrop for Charles Dickens’snovel “A Tale of Two Cities.” It tells a tale with parallels to the college experience of today.

Study: Efforts to Cancel University Faculty Skyrocketed in 2020, Often Ended in Punishment

September 2, 2021September 1, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

University punishment of faculty for their speech has exploded in the past five years, most often prompted by their expression on social media or in the classroom, a new report claims.

More than 60% of the cancelation campaigns came from the professor’s political left, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). Those were overwhelmingly driven by undergraduates, followed by fellow scholars and graduate students.

Commentary: The Great Woke Experiment

August 27, 2021August 26, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

For nearly two years, Americans have engaged in a great woke experiment of cannibalizing themselves. American civilization has invested massive labor, capital, and time in an effort constantly to flagellate itself for not being perfect.

Yet neither America’s resilience nor its resources are infinite. We are now beginning to see the consequences of what happens when premodern tribalism absorbs Americans.

Commentary: Fighting Back in a Woke World of Cancel Culture

June 8, 2021June 7, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

By now there are enough “cancel culture” stories to fill volumes. After my own story about standing up to a woke mob – and succeeding – went viral on Twitter, I decided to speak out, because I am convinced that Americans need more encouraging stories about standing up to cancel culture, and information on how they can do it themselves.

In order to withstand attacks, you’ll need to be armed with an understanding of the ideas in play, and the courage to stand up to bullies. I hope my story can help give you both.

My story began in 2010, when my husband and I founded a nonprofit organization that trains people around the world who are providing care for survivors of trauma. We were pleased with the success of our organization for the first several years, but around 2016, we noticed a change.

College Volleyball Player Says She Was Kicked Off Team for Conservative Views

June 5, 2021June 4, 2021 Cooper Moran

A former volleyball player at the University of Oklahoma, Kylee McLaughlin, is suing the school and her coaches because she claims they excluded her from the team after McLaughlin voiced conservative viewpoints.

The lawsuit filed in Oklahoma City federal court alleges that the former high school volleyball player of the year was forced by coaches to redshirt and undergo “diversity” training.

Adjunct Professor Berated Student After Student Suggested That Police Officers Are Heroes

May 10, 2021May 9, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Student Braden Ellis with adjunct professor on Zoom

An adjunct professor berated a student in her class after he expressed support for law enforcement.

Cypress College student Braden Ellis delivered a presentation about cancel culture during a Zoom communications class. In a phone interview with Campus Reform, Ellis affirmed The Daily Wire’s report that he had been discussing the attempted cancellation of “Paw Patrol” during the presentation.

“So you brought up the police in your speech a few times. So, what is your main concern?” asked the adjunct professor. “Since, I mean, honestly… the issue is systemic. Because the whole reason we have police departments in the first place, where does it stem from? What’s our history? Going back to what [another classmate] was talking about, what does it stem from? It stems from people in the south wanting to capture runaway slaves.”

Commentary: Cancel Culture and Why It Only Works on Republicans

May 2, 2021May 1, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

With cancel culture running rampant and the court of public opinion more powerful than ever, it’s no wonder many Americans are afraid to speak their minds. We’ve watched as people get taken down for reasons ranging from wrong think on Twitter, to allegations of racism, bigotry or sexual assault. The latter of which seems to be a favorite tool of the Democrats, one which they dig up seemingly every time someone “problematic” pops up in opposition to their agenda.

We saw this with Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, where wildly unfounded accusations were made, leading to an extensive investigation which found nothing. The Kavanaugh hearing, one of the most divisive in history, proved Democrats are willing to play dirty to win, even at the risk of destroying an innocent man’s life and reputation.

However, conservatives and elected Republicans always seem to get caught up in legal battles when these things come up, because they take a defensive stance, accepting the left’s narrative by trying to prove their innocence.

Pepe Le Pew Fired from Space Jam Movie After Being Accused of Perpetuating ‘Rape Culture’

March 10, 2021March 9, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The Looney Toons skunk Pepe Le Pew is the latest fictional character to fall victim to cancel culture warriors. The comically lecherous Le Pew was axed from Warner Brothers’ new “Space Jam” movie after being called out in the media for perpetuating “rape culture.”

The popular toon has reportedly had his scene cut from “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” the sequel to the film he was a part of in 1997.

The hybrid live-action animation scene was shot in June 2019 and featured both Le Pew and actress Greice Santo, according to Deadline.

Commentary: My Company Won’t Cancel You, but Big Tech CRM Bully Salesforce Might

February 25, 2021February 25, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

by Craig Klein Salesforce has shut down the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) ability to send emails through their platform. Salesforce.com is a Silicon Valley-based giant in the enterprise software space with over $13 billion in revenue. The company was founded by Marc Benioff in 1999, who acquired Time Magazine…

Parler Resumes Social Media App After Securing New Computer Servers

February 15, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Parler, the upstart social media platform silenced last month by big-tech censorship, said Monday it is resuming operations under new leadership and with new computer servers.

Parler moved to a new computer server farm, and the 20 million users on the platform when Amazon Web Services shut off the social media platform on Jan. 11 can begin using their old app and logins Monday, Interim CEO Mark Meckler told Just the News.

After Being Attacked for Attending Trump Rally, Virginia Doughnut Shop Receives Big Boost in Business

January 17, 2021January 17, 2021 Eric Burk

Chesapeake doughnut shop Amazing Glaze was flooded with negative reviews and threatening phone calls after owner Mary Jane Hamblin’s husband attended the January 6 Trump rally in D.C. Although her husband was not involved in the subsequent riot at the capitol, internet reviewers attacked her business. But after media picked up the story, Amazing Glaze was flooded with customers and supporters.

Minnesota Law School Students Aim to ‘Cancel’ Alumna Rep. Fischbach

January 16, 2021January 15, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Some students at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, are asking the school’s administration to ban an alumna and newly elected congresswoman because of her stance on voter fraud and support for President Donald Trump.

“Rep. Michelle Fischbach (MN-8), an alumna of one of Mitchell Hamline’s predecessor institutions, directly contributed to the fomentation that led to the siege of the Capitol. First and foremost, by claiming on Fox News, without evidence, that the Democratic Party manufactured votes,” reads the petition, addressed to the school’s president and dean, Anthony Niedwiecki.

Cancel Culture Claims Another: Virginia Military Institute Superintendent General Peay Resigns

October 29, 2020October 28, 2020 Corinne Murdock

Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Superintendent, retired four-star Army General J.H. Binford Peay III (’62), resigned on Monday. Peay shared that Governor Ralph Northam prompted the resignation.
“On Friday, 23 October 2020, the Governor’s Chief of Staff conveyed that the Governor and certain legislative leaders had lost confidence in my leadership as Superintendent of Virginia Military Institute and desired my resignation.”

JMU History Professor Puts a Death Wish on Republicans: They ‘Can Die For All I Care’

October 16, 2020October 15, 2020 Corinne Murdock

James Madison University (JMU) Associate Professor of History Mary Gayne tweeted a death wish for the Republican Party.
“I’m not linked to a party but, this year, I’m just straight up voting the Democratic ticket. Not even going to think about other variations. The Republican Party can die for all I care. They’ve demonstrated lack of loyalty to democracy & the US Constitution. F*** ’em all.”

Commentary: The Chinese Cultural Revolution’s Lessons for America’s Cancel Culture

September 15, 2020September 15, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

On September 13, 1971, Lin Biao, China’s defense minister, died in an airplane crash. What made his last flight memorable was that he was fleeing to the Soviet Union after he was discovered plotting a coup against party General Secretary Mao Zedong. Lin’s plane ran out of fuel. Or so goes the official story advanced by the Chinese Communist Party.

Commentary: Weatherman Fired for Accurately Reporting Which Way the Wind Is Blowing

August 18, 2020August 17, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

Everyone complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it, is an old gag attributed to Mark Twain, but it turns out that if you do try to do anything about it you will get fired, at least if you work at NPR.

NPR affiliate KNKX in Tacoma, Washington fired on-air personality and University of Washington professor Cliff Mass for correctly reporting which way the wind is blowing in Seattle (and elsewhere) on his personal blog.

Commentary: The Worship of Power Over Truth

July 20, 2020July 19, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column about “purity spirals.” That’s what the journalist Gavin Haynes calls the familiar “moral feeding frenzy” that occurs whenever ideology triumphs over truth. The French Revolution provides vivid historical examples, as did Mao’s cultural revolution in the 1960s. Those caught in a purity spiral, I observed, invariably find themselves embarked on an endless search for enemies, “a concerted effort to divide the world between the tiny coterie of the blessed and the madding crowd of the damned. The game, Haynes notes, ‘is always one of purer-than-thou.’”

Commentary: Where Did ‘Cancel Culture’ Begin?

July 17, 2020July 16, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

Bari Weiss was not the first victim of “cancel culture,” and certainly she will not be the last, but her exit from the opinion pages of the New York Times has finally focused national attention on the steadily increasing toll of intellectual intolerance among the soi-disant progressive elite. Ms. Weiss’s public resignation letter, which described “constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views,” with her superiors at the newspaper evidently condoning this harassment, exposed a cult-like climate of ideological conformity at the Times. Because she is rather young — she was born in 1984, the year Ronald Reagan was reelected — Ms. Weiss is not old enough to remember when liberals posed as champions of free speech and open debate. Some of us are old enough to remember, however, and have a duty to teach young people how it was that liberalism slowly succumbed to totalitarianism.

Commentary: Cancel Culture Has Created a Silent Majority for Trump

June 26, 2020June 25, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

In 2016, President Donald Trump consistently underperformed in presidential election polls versus actual voting results leading up to his historic victory against Hillary Clinton.

Using the RealClearPolitics.com average of polls in the days before the election, polls underreported Trump’s support in key battleground states that he ended up winning.